My longest EV trip was in 2011 to Santa Barbara in the roadster (~330 miles), after that my wife said no more since waiting to charge just made the whole trip too long.
Since then, with the M3P we've been to LA a couple of times so she was ok with a couple of short rest stops to pee/etc. at the super chargers so we decided to do a long trip with our cat (~3 weeks) driving from California to Louisiana with some side trips along the way (Marfa TX, Big Bend TX, New Mexico, Las Vegas NV and Lafayette LA). Round trip was about 8000 miles, temperatures ranged from 9F (Farmington NM) to 75F (New Orleans), and we averaged 343 Wh/mi. Here are some things that we've learned/noticed -
1. Automatic wipers don't react fast enough - driving through pouring rain especially when behind a truck, the auto wiper mode reacts too slowly to change the speed. In fact, even at the highest setting for the wipers, for a large downpour, they aren't fast enough to clear water.
2. Believe the range estimator! On our way east, we were able to make it from Junction TX to Flatonia TX (~200 miles) on a single charge but on our way back, I had 300 miles of battery but the map was warning me that I'd only have about 2% battery left if I went straight through, so I thought it was a bug and ignored the warnings. We were able to make but had to slow down (at one point 30mph on the freeway!) and it was pretty nerve wracking since it was also in the middle of the night in nowhere Texas. With the cold temperature and elevation (we were mostly driving around 55mph anyways) the map correctly calculated the energy consumption needed - I would have stopped in San Marcos but it was a bit off from the I-10.
3. Probably change the 20" wheels for cross-country driving - driving in snow, make sure you put it in "chill" mode but even then you'll slip and slide on the summer performance tires. We bent two of our wheels going over potholes/rough roads so that required wheel/tire replacements.
4. Sometimes we'd get "traction control disabled", "automatic emergency braking disabled", "stability control disabled" errors, especially when it got cold - this required a car shutdown and upon restart those errors went away.
5. Loud thunks, especially when cold or supercharging - I guess lots of other people have heard these things
Things we really appreciated -
1. Superchargers - we used primarily superchargers during our journey, one time a 40A connection at the Big Bend RV camp and destination charging at our hotel in New Orleans and an office complex in Las Cruces NM. All of them were in working order, no waiting and over 115kW/hr (initially). The ones that were in fancy malls weren't as good as by truck stops or gas stations because they'd be closed at night. We stopped almost at each one to pee/feed cat, etc. and since the speed limit on I10 is 70 or more (75 in TX).
2. Seats - we were in the seats sometimes for over 24 hours (except to pee/supercharge, etc) and never felt fatigued awake or sleeping in them. Heated seat settings were also good.
3. Sun visors - so much better than my roadster or the S/X!
4. Adaptive cruise control - I used this a lot more than the auto pilot because of two lane highways and lots of trucks - I didn't trust it enough for passing
5. Dual climate control - this worked well as one person would be driving and the other sleeping so usually the driver liked it cooler (to stay awake).
And now more pics -
Since then, with the M3P we've been to LA a couple of times so she was ok with a couple of short rest stops to pee/etc. at the super chargers so we decided to do a long trip with our cat (~3 weeks) driving from California to Louisiana with some side trips along the way (Marfa TX, Big Bend TX, New Mexico, Las Vegas NV and Lafayette LA). Round trip was about 8000 miles, temperatures ranged from 9F (Farmington NM) to 75F (New Orleans), and we averaged 343 Wh/mi. Here are some things that we've learned/noticed -
1. Automatic wipers don't react fast enough - driving through pouring rain especially when behind a truck, the auto wiper mode reacts too slowly to change the speed. In fact, even at the highest setting for the wipers, for a large downpour, they aren't fast enough to clear water.
2. Believe the range estimator! On our way east, we were able to make it from Junction TX to Flatonia TX (~200 miles) on a single charge but on our way back, I had 300 miles of battery but the map was warning me that I'd only have about 2% battery left if I went straight through, so I thought it was a bug and ignored the warnings. We were able to make but had to slow down (at one point 30mph on the freeway!) and it was pretty nerve wracking since it was also in the middle of the night in nowhere Texas. With the cold temperature and elevation (we were mostly driving around 55mph anyways) the map correctly calculated the energy consumption needed - I would have stopped in San Marcos but it was a bit off from the I-10.
3. Probably change the 20" wheels for cross-country driving - driving in snow, make sure you put it in "chill" mode but even then you'll slip and slide on the summer performance tires. We bent two of our wheels going over potholes/rough roads so that required wheel/tire replacements.
4. Sometimes we'd get "traction control disabled", "automatic emergency braking disabled", "stability control disabled" errors, especially when it got cold - this required a car shutdown and upon restart those errors went away.
5. Loud thunks, especially when cold or supercharging - I guess lots of other people have heard these things
Things we really appreciated -
1. Superchargers - we used primarily superchargers during our journey, one time a 40A connection at the Big Bend RV camp and destination charging at our hotel in New Orleans and an office complex in Las Cruces NM. All of them were in working order, no waiting and over 115kW/hr (initially). The ones that were in fancy malls weren't as good as by truck stops or gas stations because they'd be closed at night. We stopped almost at each one to pee/feed cat, etc. and since the speed limit on I10 is 70 or more (75 in TX).
2. Seats - we were in the seats sometimes for over 24 hours (except to pee/supercharge, etc) and never felt fatigued awake or sleeping in them. Heated seat settings were also good.
3. Sun visors - so much better than my roadster or the S/X!
4. Adaptive cruise control - I used this a lot more than the auto pilot because of two lane highways and lots of trucks - I didn't trust it enough for passing
5. Dual climate control - this worked well as one person would be driving and the other sleeping so usually the driver liked it cooler (to stay awake).
And now more pics -
